Herdade da Malhadinha Nova among the best in the world of sustainability

Herdade da Malhadinha Nova has just been highlighted in second place in the Best Use of Sustainability in Culinary category, in the Global Culinary Travel Awards 2022, promoted by the non-profit association World Food Travel.

The World Food Travel Association announced the winners of the 2022 Global Culinary Travel Awards in mid-September, recognizing excellence and innovation in products and dining experiences for travelers. The ceremony will be streamed online on Tuesday, October 11, 2022 at 4 pm London time, UK.

Os vencedores deste ano são:

Best Emphasis on Wellness & Health in Culinary Travel

1st place – Spa Eastman (Quebec, Canada)

Runner Up – Nomads, Nature & Nurture (Lebanon)

Best Use of Sustainability in Culinary Travel

1st – Vegan Travel Asia by VegVoyages (Nepal)

Runner Up – Herdade da Malhadinha Nova (Portugal)

Best Celebration of Culinary Culture in Culinary Travel

1st – Jiranileo (Zambia)

Runner Up – Heather’s Helsinki (Helsinki, Finland)

Best Focus on Wine & Beverages in Culinary Travel

1st – HaliPuu / Campfire Baristan (Finland)

Runner Up – Cadushy Distillery (Bonaire)

Best Appreciation of Agriculture & Rural in Culinary Travel

1st – La Balade Gourmande (Quebec, Canada)

Runner Up – Conseil de l’industrie bioalimentaire de l’Estrie (Quebec, Canada)

The Global Culinary Travel Awards (first called the FoodTrekking Awards) were introduced by the WFTA in 2015 to set the benchmark for excellence and innovation in the industry. The annual awards open in March and winners are announced in the fall. This year, 10 winners were chosen from 131 entries from 27 countries that strove to gain recognition for their business or destination.

Culinary travel was officially recognized as a niche industry in 2001 with the publication of the report ‘Culinary Tourism: The Hidden Harvest’. Since then, the industry has experienced significant growth in both the quantity and quality of products and experiences for food and restaurant lovers.

The World Food Travel Association (WFTA) was founded in 2003 as a non-governmental, non-profit organization (NGO) and today is recognized as the world’s leading authority on Food & Beverage tourism. Each year, the Association accompanies 200,000 professionals in more than 150 countries. WFTA’s knowledge, tools and training help industry professionals and organizations leverage the F&B products and experiences in their field to help create a strong sense of belonging, which increases visitor arrivals; the value of the destination’s brand and the exportation of goods from its area. But information at www.worldfoodtravel.org.

ABOUT MALHADINHA:

Born in 1998, as a result of the enormous determination of the Soares family to produce wines of the highest quality on their abandoned lands, Malhadinha Nova immediately became the enormous challenge of maintaining the sustainability and natural balance of a unique property, never attacked by farms. soil exhaustion through chemical fertilization and the use of pesticides or plantations of any intensive monoculture or the target of any real estate speculation.

In 2008, they embarked on hospitality, with the restoration of a ruin transformed into rural tourism with the Monte da Peceguina house, but it was in 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, that a new phase of the hotel project was inaugurated, new villas spread across the property, all restored to from the ruins of the land. These villas elevated the estate to a luxury project, never losing focus on sustainability and the future.

The enormous concern with the need to share and preserve knowledge, knowledge and traditions results in the involvement of local communities of artisans, musicians, artists in various areas of the estate, whether in the materials used in the construction and restoration of the ruins, in decoration elements present in all suites and villas and which can be sold on the estate, at the request of customers. Also in all the experiences promoted by HMN in its tourist activity, intangible heritage of knowledge of the region is included in terms of handicrafts and gastronomy.

The entire property is part of the “Natura 2000 Network“. This special protection zone created by UNESCO in 1998 aims to protect extremely rare species. The sustainability and environmental protection measures cover different practices, such as: organic production, efficient use of water, use of biological WWTPs, collection of rainwater, heated in boilers with firewood for cleaning the land, breeding of indigenous breeds in a extensive farming, grazing, traditional olive groves, among others.

Malhadinha Nova was one of the first producers to integrate the Alentejo Wines Sustainability Program, a pioneering project in the country and one of the most relevant in Europe.